Tony Rickardsson Q&A: Can anyone challenge Bartosz Zmarzlik in 2023 Speedway Grand Prix? How will Brits fare?

Speedway legend Tony Rickardsson reckons Bartosz Zmarzlik is the man to beat this year, and has also assessed the prospects of British trio Dan Woffinden, Robert Lambert and Dan Bewley. In tough conditions, Zmarzlik took victory in the season-opening Speedway GP in Croatia last month as the Pole looks to back up his title win from 2022. Ad Ahead of the upcoming Speedway GP second round in Warsaw — for which Zmarzlik will be on home soil — we sat down with Rickardsson to hear his thoughts on the opening race, the prospect of a British champion, and what it's like competing in front of nearly 60,000 fans, as the riders will do this weekend in the Polish capital...

GP CroatiaZmarzlik gets title defence off to perfect start despite heat exclusion29/04/2023 AT 19:45 What did you make of the opening round in Croatia? Tony Rickardsson: Obviously it was a little bit unfortunate with the weather, it's never good when you have that much rain on the race track. But still, hats off to everybody who got the meeting done. Obviously you are wishing for a little bit more close racing but I know how difficult it is for the riders to race close to each other when you have track conditions like that.

Who are the strongest contenders for the title based on what you've seen so far? TR: I had a little bit higher hopes for Dan Bewley. He did OK, he still got 10 points. Maybe I could see him topping up his game slightly.